wasted food

[oct-bump]

How much food do you waste because LO won't eat it or doesn't finish it?

The past few weeks, my LO has decided she doesnt want to eat breakfast even though she demads it. It's so annoying. When she wakes, she'll say she wants oatmeal for breakfast. So, I make it and she eats none!! Then she says she wants eggs. So I make her one, and then she wont eat it!!!

grrrr.
She even does this with ceral bars, ceral with milk or basically anything for breakfast.

I dont mind about throwing away loftovers from her plate at dinner because at least touches some, but the entire breakfast thing is so annoying.

Anyway, anyone else wasting food?

 

[Nats21]

Maybe you could give her a choice in the morning then you can make her what she wants but make it clear that there is nothing else to eat if she doesn't eat what shes chosen? xx

 

[Cattia]

Abigail is almost two and we have just stopped making her alternatives. We've also stopped giving her pudding unless she makes some attempt at eating her main course, as she was sometimes refusing to eat and just filling up on yoghurt. I don't ever insist that she eats everything that's in front of her - if she has not eaten anything, or very little, then I put a bit of her meal in a separate bowl and tell her that unless she eats that then she gets no pudding. So far it is working, as she does now make the effort to at least attempt her main course, even if it is very grudgingly!

 

[rosie272]

About a month back I was throwing out bowls of cereal and toast every single morning, so now if I'm working and Charlie's going to nursery he gets a smoothie pouch and a few grapes or an apple for the journey as I know he gets fruit and toast at 9am in nursery. On the weekends I wait until he asks for breakfast (usually toast but no more cereal!) It was really annoying throwing the cereal away, but that was his way of letting me know he's gone off it, at least for the time being (after eating it no problem every day for the past 1.5 years!!

 

[Bexx]

Zachary doesn't waste anywhere near as much food as he used to. He also has better table manners now - instead of throwing the unwanted food on the floor, he puts it back on the plate.

We rarely have to make him something else, if he doesn't eat much dinner it's not a problem as he always has porridge and a banana for his supper a couple of hours later. We don't tend to offer pudding as we don't want him deciding to skip dinner in favour of it. Though if he really won't eat anything, he's offered some fruit afterwards which he never turns down.

He's going through a growth spurt at the moment so is eating everything he sees lol.

Leftover food isn't a huge problem for us as we give it to our chickens!

 

[OmarsMum]

I ask him what he wants for breakfast as he still eats baby cereals which are too expensive to waste. If he asks for cereals he gets it, but some days he asks for eggs or a sandwich with yoghurt for breakfast, so he gets that. As for lunch, I dont prepare something special for him, I show him what we're eating, & he chooses what he wants. Liek today for example, we had lamb meat, fried rice with green peas, & cucumber & yoghurt salad. He asked for meat & the salad, when I asked him if he wants some rice, he said no, so I didnt put any in his plate.

 

[Blah11]

Amelie wastes loads especially at evening meals but id rather that than her over eat and make herself too full just so her plate is clear

We don't do pudding at home either. I don't like making some food treats or rewards. It's just all food.

 

[Mum2b_Claire]

^ agreed, food is always just offered to her, I'd not dream of asking her to eat one more spoonful or whatever.

I do really small portions generally as I find Ruby doesn't like a big portion put in front of her, she finds that off putting.

I think toddlers asking for food and then saying they don't want it and asking for something else is just them exercising their independence etc and although it is annoying I would not get Ruby an alternative if she completely refused the thing she asked for, if it was dinner she could have some fruit or a yoghurt as those are always available to her but not a different dinner.

 

[NuKe]

zero. i have a composter

 

[misshopefull]

Loads. Ds would happily not eat. Its very frustrating but I find that he will eat a good breakfast then its down hill from there I hate wasting food but when you ask him what he wants to eat most times he will say nothing so I make him something as it is a meal time and it generally ends up in the bin

 

[Jexer72]

At the moment (last week or so) so much food is being wasted . Pretty sure it's her last lot of molars coming through. She's fine in herself just has no appetite.

I still make breakfast, lunch and tea just in case she tucks in (all her usual favourites). If I ask her what she wants she just says "nothing mummy". If I listened to what she said I wouldn't be wasting the food - just doesn't sit right with me. I'm just hoping she'll suddenly start eating again.

She's surviving on precious little, just a few mouthfuls a day and her evening milk - she doesn't seem bothered so I'm not worried at the moment - just a bit put out that most of her food is going in the bin - or worse, in me!

 

[Maman]

i wouldnt make my ds more than one thing for breakfast, rules in our house are you eat whats put in front of you, im happy with 4/5 of whatever i put in front of him to be eate, any less then i either remind him of starving children in 3rd world countries (yes, hes educated on this!) or i tell him that hes having no other food till im content with how much hes eaten.

But, most mealtimes he chooses what he has, and how much i put on his plate, as i serve nearly everything out of side dishes and bigger plates, he has free reign on fruits and bread at all times.

 

[JakesMummy]

Jake has started doing this too, and I also believe it is to do with independence and realising they can pick and choose. But in our case its interesting. He always, without fail, wakes me up by demanding "Weetabix please, Mummy". This will be repeated to me so much until I give it to him, to which he has one mouthful then leaves it.
After several mornings of this, I left it on his table. No lie, it was rank! Stone cold and mushy. Yet after 1 hour he returned, and ate it all!?

So now I just leave it there for him to eat and if he doesn't want it, I won't be offering anything else!

He used to be a brilliant eater but as he has got older, he picks and chooses and its just him realising he can do just that rather than accept what I gave him before, with no fuss.

 

[oct-bump]

Yeah, it must be an independence thing. She's also started being really commanding and bossy.

Some good ideas here. I might try giving her breakfast an hour later. And not give anything (or wait a 1/2 hour or so) if she refuses to eat the first thing I give.

 

[babyjiva]

well my LO has not started this but i have some tips:
1. can you eat what LO turns down? if it's a sandwich or a bowl of something, no need for it to waste. but i hate wasting
2. give LO a tiny portion of the thing he/she claims to want. then if it fails the test, you're only throwing away a little bit

i think i'd be willing to make something else if LO changed their mind, but I would not throw away the food if it could be avoided at all.

even though it has not really started, she does have us wasting some food already